Saif Ali Khan on shutting down his production house: 'It can also be a massive pain'

Did you know Saif Ali Khan ran a production venture called Illuminati Films? And the first time it bankrolled was Imtiaz Ali’s 2009 hit romantic comedy, Love Aaj Kal. In the following years, the actor backed multiple projects under his banner, including Agent Vinod, Cocktail, Go Goa Gone, and Happy Ending. However, despite producing hits, Saif Ali Khan decided to shut down his production house.

During a conversation with Screen, the actor opened up about quitting the role of a producer.

“I think it can be an extremely thankless job. But it’s very creative. I like the idea of having an idea and discussing it with some creatives, like the sound and look of things. I did enjoy producing, but it can also be a massive pain,” he said.

Sharing his experience of running Illuminati Films, Saif Ali Khan thanked his distribution partner, Eros International, and his producing partner, Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films.

“Things move, and people move. You see it all over the place. Dinesh has gone on to become a wonderful producer, and that’s great. We had our time, and I did extremely well out of it, and it had a lot to do with what Eros was doing at the time. It was a wonderful opportunity. But some things are meant to last however long they do,” Saif added.

Dinesh Vijan, who started his career co-producing with Saif Ali Khan’s Illuminati Films, has become one of the biggest producers of Hindi cinema.

Over the years, his production house, Maddock Films, has backed several hits, including Badlapur, Hindi Medium, Mini, Sky Force, Chhaava

, and the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe, consisting of the Stree franchise, Bhediya, Munjya, and Thamma.

Saif Ali Khan, on the other hand, wrapped up Illuminate Films in 2014 and started to focus on his acting career. He was recently seen in Pulkit’s crime drama Kartavya, produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s production banner Red Chillies Entertainment.

Talking about Shah Rukh Khan’s role as a producer in Kartavya, Saif shared, “Actually, as a producer, he hasn’t made his presence felt in the film. One of the nice things some producers do is give the space and scope to the production. This film has actually been backed by Pulkit. It’s very generous of Red Chillies to do that. We just went to some place in Punjab for a few months, did this film, and came back.”

Kartavya is a gritty crime thriller that follows an upright station house officer in Haryana who strives to balance the investigation of a murdered journalist with chaotic personal problems after his younger brother elopes with a woman from another caste.

Alongside Saif Ali Khan, the film stars Sanjay Mishra, Rasika Dugal, Saurabh Dwivedi, Zakir Hussain, and Manish Chaudhari, among others. The film is currently streaming on Netflix.